Many sport type truck and utility vehicles are provided with a canvas or similar material convertible top. A conventional soft convertible top has a factory installed weather-seal between the material of the convertible top and the body of the vehicle. This weather-seal is typically rubber and has a plurality of mounting points which serve to secure the convertible top to the body of the vehicle. It is often desirable to be able to replace the soft convertible top with a rigid hard-top. Conventionally, this requires removal of the factory installed weather-seal, which is replaced by a weather-seal suited particularly for the rigid hard-top. As the hard and soft tops are interchanged to suit the needs of the driver, these weather-seals lose their integrity as weather-seals and lose their effectiveness at providing a weather tight junction between the top and the body of the vehicle.
A similar problem is encountered at the junction of the tail-gate and the rearward lower edge of the hard-top. Some provision must be made for this junction to be weather-tight, or the driver is faced with a situation where the interior of the vehicle is unnecessarily exposed to wind and moisture.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a hard-top for a sport truck or utility vehicle to serve as an interchangeable replacement for the sport vehicle's factory installed soft convertible top.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a replacement hard-top for a sport truck or utility vehicle which can be installed over the vehicle's existing, factory installed weather-seals.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a replacement hard-top for a sport truck or utility vehicle which allows a weather-tight junction between the vehicle's tail-gate and the replacement hard-top.
Other objects and advantages over the prior art will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading the detailed description together with the drawings as described as follows.